Walter F. Pratt Picnic Area - Part 1

Finally, after the longest winter I can remember living through, we had a warm, sunny day - and the promise that it would continue and turn into springtime. I took the dogs to the nearby Walter Pratt Picnic Area, a favorite place for quick and scenic walks:

There was still ice on the reservoir, but no snow on the ground, so we started off by walking toward the dam. The dogs were as excited as usual, and I tried to keep them reined in by blowing on my silent dog whistle. To my surprise, it worked pretty well:

 The pooches are particularly fond of the picnic tables and fire pits, places they always hope to find food scraps. I am happy to report, however, that they seldom find anything:


 We rounded the corner and began walking to the top of the earthen dam:

Fergus ran down to the water's edge by the cattails, but Seamus and Daphne excitedly ran to the top of the dam. Clover was all the way ahead of us, up near that gate with the yellow bar. Jack, as usual, was running in giant circles. Notice how skinny Seamus looks. That's partly because he had a haircut, but also because he lost a lot of weight. I've now increased his food lest he get too thin. He's in fine shape right now, as evidenced by his lively gait and happily flopping ears:


I stopped to admire the scenery, one of the nicest things about this spot. That peninsula which juts out into the water from the left is another favorite spot, and I knew we'd be heading there shortly:

We started toward the spillway:

And then I thought how we'd been that way many times before. So I walked down the opposite side of the dam into the woods. Seamus, however, stayed up at the crest:

I briefly examined the forest below the dam and then we headed back up to join with Seamus. The cool thing about dogs is that they are beside themselves with joy to be going in any direction. For them, the joy is in the journey. Oh, that I should be so wise:

They stopped often to pee and to sniff what I call the Doggie Newspaper:

My sniffer doesn't work as well, but I did stop to examine the lichens, mosses and single pine seedling at the base of an old White Pine:


We headed off through the forest toward the peninsula which you saw in one of the above photos. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: